I rode 100 miles! And it was…kinda easy! In fact, this ride was amazing. We had impeccable, cool, overcast weather, very little traffic and lovely country scenery. I rode the Strawberry Century last year with Zoe, but we opted for the 70 mile option. The century takes a 30 mile-loop on top of the 70-mile loop. I think they tricked me because, while the 70-mile loop is flat as can be, the 30 mile addition was nothing but hills! And then we hit a head wind for a while! Although, last year we fought a head wind for what seemed like hours, so this year was cake by comparison.
The helpers were super cool. The highlight was the pasta salad…yummy! Well, the highlight on the ride was pasta salad; the highlight of the ride is the amazing strawberry shortcakes they serve you at the end. The ride may be way out in Lebanon, but it is classy!
There were about 3 people I leapfrogged with for the first half of the ride. Then at the end, I rode with a group of about 8 folks. It motivated me to push on, laughing with them and sharing various analogies of how tired we felt. I pushed on the down hills because the ease motivated me to go for it, but slugged on the up hills. Everybody else pushed on the up hills and recovered on the down hills, so it was fun to keep passing each other.
The most interesting thing was seeing a guy riding his bike with his cat in Brownsville. Yes, his grey tabby sat perched across his shoulder blades as he rode. The large cat spread across the guy’s whole back, but since he was hunched a bit (riding a road bike) the cat sat comfortably. I wondered how long they rode like this. I also wondered what happened when the guy had to stand up, say at a stop light. Who knows, but it was cool.
I intended to ride the “Ride Around Clark Country” Century, and didn’t. I intended to ride “Tour de Valley” ride and “America’s Most Beautiful Ride” in Reno and the “Reach the Beach” (I am most bummed about not doing this one), but I skipped all of them because I have hardly been training this season. But I rode the Strawberry Century, kept a 14.2 mph average, without much pain and anguish and I didn’t ride at all in the past 2 weeks (expect for errand runs and that sort of thing, which doesn’t count). So now I know there is no excuse. I could probably hop on my bike any time and ride a century and finish it. That is a powerful feeling.
Now I have 2 things to work on. I want to improve my average. I am averaging about 14-14.5 mph. My goal has been, and still is, to ride at 15 mph. Last year when my average soared after buying a new bike, I felt less motivated to work on this goal. However, now I am realizing there is a big difference between averaging 14 and 15 mph on a century! Reaching my goal won’t be as easy as I previously thought, making it more interesting to strive for.
I also need to work on my training and average for the sake of riding in heat. My performance drops drastically when it is hot outside. I just made plans to ride another century in Bend for Independence Day, and it will surely be a scorcher. Being in the saddle for 10 hours is no fun, if I can keep it under 7 hours that would be ideal. I also love riding in Colorado, but the heat there wipes me out!